Iken - Tunstall Forest - River Alde - Iken

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Iken was once an important fishing village. From 1780 to 1868, sailing barges carried corn from Iken Cliffs to London. Malt was also produced at Snape Maltings from locally grown barley for breweries in Norwich and London.

The wide stretches of the river near Iken Church were named Long Reach and Troublesome Reach by the barge sailors. You can see 'withies' stuck into the mud to show the river channel. Iken Church is on the site of an Anglo-Saxon monastery, founded 654 AD by St Botolph and destroyed by a Viking sailing fleet in 869 AD. Avocets and herons are common in the area,

Tunstall Forest is a very large area, mainly of conifers, but with chestnuts, oaks, birches and other broadleaved trees. In the 1987 hurricane, large areas of the forest suffered extensive damage, but replanting has rapidly re-established the woodland.